Keith Speer
Senior Member
One Saturday in early August I decided to fish a water that is run by a small club in Hertfordshire, I joined about 3 years ago because they hold a summer evening league for the first ten Mondays of the season and I wanted to keep my hand in with the match fishing.
The competition is fierce, most of the twenty anglers that fish this league have match fished to a very high standard, in fact I recognized many from when I used to fish the division one National Championships, one of the anglers is an ex Barbel record holder and ALL are exceptionally gifted anglers and know the river well.
The fishery is also close to my home and on this occasion my regular fishing partners were doing family stuff, so I had the chance to fish one of the best pegs on the fishery (it is also one that I have consistently never managed to draw in one of the matches), so after arriving early in the car park I made the short walk down to my chosen swim.
When I started to get my gear out to assemble my tackle I found that I had:-
A. Left my heavy float rod at home!
B. Brought 3 pints of Tares and half a pint of Hemp, instead of the other way around!!
C. Managed to lend out my spool of 8lb hooklength the week before, and not had it returned!!!
Not Good!!!!!!
The Hemp and Hooklength problem I could rectify with an early morning visit to the local tackle shop in Hatfield (a pain but I went anyway), only to find they did not have any hooklength that I needed, the main line on my Okuma Sheffield was 8lb 15oz strain so I needed some that was somewhere between 7lb 6oz (which I had with me) and 8lb 15oz, the tackle shop did not have anything between those weight so the Reflo Power Pro 7lb 6oz would have to do.
Hemp problem solved and as I walked back to my swim I also collected a couple of bunches of ripe Elderberries, I love fishing early autumn, free bait grown on the fishery can be very cost effective.
Elderberries, enough for a day, but you can always get more, don't pick too many the birds need them too.
The swim I had chosen was about four and a half feet deep in front of me about a rod and a half out, with a nice gravel bottom, the pace was steady with no boils and the depth was quite even for about ten yards, after that the depth shallowed up a couple of inches just in front of a large branch that hung about 4yards out into the river, this branch was parallel to the surface and resting as if floating on the surface.
From work parties, when we have been in the river in our dry suits we know that it is clear under the branch for a yard or so, after that there are several other branches and roots that form a formidable snag, this of course is where the Barbel and Chub live!
This swim can easily be trotted, but most anglers cast a Maggot feeder down to the snag with heavy gear and hold the fish hard as they try to get deep under the snag, some they land others they don’t!
I decided to start off with my trusty Shimano Diaflash 13ft, Okuma centre pin, loaded with 8lb 15oz line a 6 x No4 Stick float and 7lb 6oz hook length tied via a knotless knot to a size 16 Drennan Super Specialist eyed hook.
Hemp and Elderberry would be my first line of attack as hook bait, while continuously feeding Hemp, these are probably not the first choice of bait for most Barbel anglers, but over the years I have caught so many Barbel using Hemp and Berry, and not just small fish either, to date my best Barbel on Elderberry is 14lb 2oz, I have taken bigger on other baits, but the Elderberry season is quite short, but when it is available it can be absolutely deadly.
Years ago, when I used to fish the Thames a lot for the Roach with my Dad and my old friend Mac, we noticed that we would occasionally hook the odd Barbel while fishing Hempseed on the hook, however when the Berry was on the trees, the instance of hooking Barbel increased dramatically, so much so that we deliberately set up an extra rod with heavier gear just for the evening which was when we seemed to get the Barbel moving in on the spare Hemp that the Roach and Dace had not cleared up.
We always knew when the Barbel were about because the bites from Roach and Dace would suddenly dry up, (for example in my swim), whereas my Dad and Mac would still be catching.
Obviously this could (and occasionally was) caused by Pike, but we learned that a switch over to heavier gear often paid dividends, and a couple of Barbel to finish the day was often the case!
Times have changed but even given the availability of Pellet and High protein baits, The Barbel’s preferences have not changed and Elderberry remains an absolutely deadly bait for Barbel, yet I suspect it is rarely used these days.
Anyway I started to fish using berry, as the hook bait, feeding 15-20 grains of Hemp every trot, as some will know I continually bang on endlessly about maintaining a steady rate of feed, I think THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN MY FISHING, I can knause almost everything else up and still catch but if I do not maintain a steady rate of feed I can easily fail.
After a short time I was into my first fish, this was a Barbel of about 5lb, the next fish ended as a hook pull, I think it was a large Chub, the next which I also think was a large Chub, took me well under the snag I was fishing to, and broke me and the next fish clearly a Barbel opened up the hook and did the ofski!
First fish of the day.
This was stupid, I don’t like loosing fish so I tried a change of gear!
To catch in this swim you need to get very close to the snag, but I don’t like the noise a feeder makes as it crashes into the water, I much prefer to try and creep up on them so I decided to use an old Lea trick that has served well in the past.
Instead of a feeder I set the tackle up exactly as you would for a feeder, pass a link swivel onto the main line, tie a swivel with a grinner, tie on a hooklength and then a hook.
But instead of a feeder I clip the link swivel to a shotgun cartridge (used Dohhhh! - In fact used to ensure that a Crow would provide me with Crow quills), by means of using a bait drill to make a small hole in the open end of the cartridge (about a third to half an inch down).
To fish this I simply fill the cartridge two thirds or so full of free offerings, then pop the baited hook into the cartridge.
This is then swung carefully out into the current and gently lowered into the water.
If I have done it right, the cartridge will sit upright in the water and then can be trotted down to the snag, when it gets there I simply gigle the line and the cartridge will fill with water and sink.
Now the interesting thing about this method is that the cartridge (if allowed line quickly) will sink downstream at about 45 degrees, so if you let the cartridge trot down until it hits the snag then place you finger on the reel spool and gigle the cartridge, this will cause it to fill with water, as it fills take your finger from the spool and allow some line out, the cartridge will drop down well under the snag and further under than you could drop a feeder.
Also when it sinks away the pressure of water on the hooklength causes the baited hook to pop out of the open end (in fact you cannot make it not do so, no matter how hard you try).
The free offering bait does not all come out, about half will, but a lot will stay in the cartridge, however once you have hooked a fish the movement of the fish shaking it’s head empties the cartridge and makes it look like the fish is in a feeding frenzy, chasing the small cloud of bait that has been shaken from the cartridge, this will startle the other fish momentarily but they soon get back on the feed.
Once you have your cartridge in position carefully wind in any slack so that the cartridge is not disturbed.
The cartridge only works when there is low flow and even then only when fishing a snag on your own bank, cartridges have little weight and are easily pulled off station by flow so you do have to take care, but in the right situation this method will out-fish the feeder every time!!
So now that I was ready with my cartridge feeder set up I thought I would have a change of bait over to maggot, I reasoned that some of the fish had been spooked off the berry, even so although I was fishing Maggot in the cartridge I continued to feed 15 -20 grains of Hemp at the same rate as when I was trotting.
I had a Barbel of about 4lb within a few minutes; I then had several Gudgeon so I went on to Hemp in the cartridge and Berry on the hook and had 3 more Barbel.
I managed to get all 4 fish out from under the snag but on every occasion the fish were close to the snag before I could do much about it, fine for small fish but if I got into a bigger one I would be in trouble.
So I sat back and had a cup of Tea and a re-think, and my sandwiches, (Gammon with Tomatoes, Cos Lettuce, Mayonnaise, a touch of Dijon Mustard, a little Salt and Pepper Yum Yum !!!!).
My problem was that I could not afford to let the fish get under the snag, I had been lucky so far but my luck tends to go away quite quickly, so I took down Diaflash my float rod and re-tackled with my Preston Carbonactive 13ft rod, this rod has a little more grunt in the middle section and with it I could put on the power more quickly, set up my Okuma with the 8lb 15oz main line added an appropriate float and re-tied the hooklength (7lb 6oz) to a size 14 Super Specialist, but this time I used an Olivette (sliding, no shot on the line, the Olivette stopped by the knot for the hooklength and two style leads pinched very lightly on the hooklength), with this rig I had no weak points except the loop knots for the hooklength and the hook knot.
I decided that I would hit the fish hard on the bite and put on as much pressure as I possibly could, immediately, thus not giving the fish the opportunity to turn down to the snag, it would be dicey, but I was confident that the rod would not break and that I would soon know just how much pressure “maximum” really was?
I had kept the Hemp going in, but I upped the rate just a little, I wanted to draw the fish out as much as I could, if I managed to draw them out from under the branch by a couple of feet it would stand me in good stead for when I put on as much pressure as I could once the float had dipped.
I baited the hook with a single large Elderberry and took the plunge!!
I had 7 fish on the bounce, did not loose one and not one fish got into the snag, as soon as they realised they could not go downstream they all shot out into open water where I could ease off unless they went for the snag whereupon I battered them again.
These fish were not big (all were 6-7lb except one) but at least my plan had worked and it is one I will remember for the future!
Best fish that day.
The last fish I had was 8lb 4oz and I decided to call it a day, while there was still a little light left to walk my dogs.
This is the story of a single day on the upper Lea, I had learned quite a bit and I hope this helps others to learn a little too.
Tight lines chaps.
The competition is fierce, most of the twenty anglers that fish this league have match fished to a very high standard, in fact I recognized many from when I used to fish the division one National Championships, one of the anglers is an ex Barbel record holder and ALL are exceptionally gifted anglers and know the river well.
The fishery is also close to my home and on this occasion my regular fishing partners were doing family stuff, so I had the chance to fish one of the best pegs on the fishery (it is also one that I have consistently never managed to draw in one of the matches), so after arriving early in the car park I made the short walk down to my chosen swim.
When I started to get my gear out to assemble my tackle I found that I had:-
A. Left my heavy float rod at home!
B. Brought 3 pints of Tares and half a pint of Hemp, instead of the other way around!!
C. Managed to lend out my spool of 8lb hooklength the week before, and not had it returned!!!
Not Good!!!!!!
The Hemp and Hooklength problem I could rectify with an early morning visit to the local tackle shop in Hatfield (a pain but I went anyway), only to find they did not have any hooklength that I needed, the main line on my Okuma Sheffield was 8lb 15oz strain so I needed some that was somewhere between 7lb 6oz (which I had with me) and 8lb 15oz, the tackle shop did not have anything between those weight so the Reflo Power Pro 7lb 6oz would have to do.
Hemp problem solved and as I walked back to my swim I also collected a couple of bunches of ripe Elderberries, I love fishing early autumn, free bait grown on the fishery can be very cost effective.
Elderberries, enough for a day, but you can always get more, don't pick too many the birds need them too.
The swim I had chosen was about four and a half feet deep in front of me about a rod and a half out, with a nice gravel bottom, the pace was steady with no boils and the depth was quite even for about ten yards, after that the depth shallowed up a couple of inches just in front of a large branch that hung about 4yards out into the river, this branch was parallel to the surface and resting as if floating on the surface.
From work parties, when we have been in the river in our dry suits we know that it is clear under the branch for a yard or so, after that there are several other branches and roots that form a formidable snag, this of course is where the Barbel and Chub live!
This swim can easily be trotted, but most anglers cast a Maggot feeder down to the snag with heavy gear and hold the fish hard as they try to get deep under the snag, some they land others they don’t!
I decided to start off with my trusty Shimano Diaflash 13ft, Okuma centre pin, loaded with 8lb 15oz line a 6 x No4 Stick float and 7lb 6oz hook length tied via a knotless knot to a size 16 Drennan Super Specialist eyed hook.
Hemp and Elderberry would be my first line of attack as hook bait, while continuously feeding Hemp, these are probably not the first choice of bait for most Barbel anglers, but over the years I have caught so many Barbel using Hemp and Berry, and not just small fish either, to date my best Barbel on Elderberry is 14lb 2oz, I have taken bigger on other baits, but the Elderberry season is quite short, but when it is available it can be absolutely deadly.
Years ago, when I used to fish the Thames a lot for the Roach with my Dad and my old friend Mac, we noticed that we would occasionally hook the odd Barbel while fishing Hempseed on the hook, however when the Berry was on the trees, the instance of hooking Barbel increased dramatically, so much so that we deliberately set up an extra rod with heavier gear just for the evening which was when we seemed to get the Barbel moving in on the spare Hemp that the Roach and Dace had not cleared up.
We always knew when the Barbel were about because the bites from Roach and Dace would suddenly dry up, (for example in my swim), whereas my Dad and Mac would still be catching.
Obviously this could (and occasionally was) caused by Pike, but we learned that a switch over to heavier gear often paid dividends, and a couple of Barbel to finish the day was often the case!
Times have changed but even given the availability of Pellet and High protein baits, The Barbel’s preferences have not changed and Elderberry remains an absolutely deadly bait for Barbel, yet I suspect it is rarely used these days.
Anyway I started to fish using berry, as the hook bait, feeding 15-20 grains of Hemp every trot, as some will know I continually bang on endlessly about maintaining a steady rate of feed, I think THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN MY FISHING, I can knause almost everything else up and still catch but if I do not maintain a steady rate of feed I can easily fail.
After a short time I was into my first fish, this was a Barbel of about 5lb, the next fish ended as a hook pull, I think it was a large Chub, the next which I also think was a large Chub, took me well under the snag I was fishing to, and broke me and the next fish clearly a Barbel opened up the hook and did the ofski!
First fish of the day.
This was stupid, I don’t like loosing fish so I tried a change of gear!
To catch in this swim you need to get very close to the snag, but I don’t like the noise a feeder makes as it crashes into the water, I much prefer to try and creep up on them so I decided to use an old Lea trick that has served well in the past.
Instead of a feeder I set the tackle up exactly as you would for a feeder, pass a link swivel onto the main line, tie a swivel with a grinner, tie on a hooklength and then a hook.
But instead of a feeder I clip the link swivel to a shotgun cartridge (used Dohhhh! - In fact used to ensure that a Crow would provide me with Crow quills), by means of using a bait drill to make a small hole in the open end of the cartridge (about a third to half an inch down).
To fish this I simply fill the cartridge two thirds or so full of free offerings, then pop the baited hook into the cartridge.
This is then swung carefully out into the current and gently lowered into the water.
If I have done it right, the cartridge will sit upright in the water and then can be trotted down to the snag, when it gets there I simply gigle the line and the cartridge will fill with water and sink.
Now the interesting thing about this method is that the cartridge (if allowed line quickly) will sink downstream at about 45 degrees, so if you let the cartridge trot down until it hits the snag then place you finger on the reel spool and gigle the cartridge, this will cause it to fill with water, as it fills take your finger from the spool and allow some line out, the cartridge will drop down well under the snag and further under than you could drop a feeder.
Also when it sinks away the pressure of water on the hooklength causes the baited hook to pop out of the open end (in fact you cannot make it not do so, no matter how hard you try).
The free offering bait does not all come out, about half will, but a lot will stay in the cartridge, however once you have hooked a fish the movement of the fish shaking it’s head empties the cartridge and makes it look like the fish is in a feeding frenzy, chasing the small cloud of bait that has been shaken from the cartridge, this will startle the other fish momentarily but they soon get back on the feed.
Once you have your cartridge in position carefully wind in any slack so that the cartridge is not disturbed.
The cartridge only works when there is low flow and even then only when fishing a snag on your own bank, cartridges have little weight and are easily pulled off station by flow so you do have to take care, but in the right situation this method will out-fish the feeder every time!!
So now that I was ready with my cartridge feeder set up I thought I would have a change of bait over to maggot, I reasoned that some of the fish had been spooked off the berry, even so although I was fishing Maggot in the cartridge I continued to feed 15 -20 grains of Hemp at the same rate as when I was trotting.
I had a Barbel of about 4lb within a few minutes; I then had several Gudgeon so I went on to Hemp in the cartridge and Berry on the hook and had 3 more Barbel.
I managed to get all 4 fish out from under the snag but on every occasion the fish were close to the snag before I could do much about it, fine for small fish but if I got into a bigger one I would be in trouble.
So I sat back and had a cup of Tea and a re-think, and my sandwiches, (Gammon with Tomatoes, Cos Lettuce, Mayonnaise, a touch of Dijon Mustard, a little Salt and Pepper Yum Yum !!!!).
My problem was that I could not afford to let the fish get under the snag, I had been lucky so far but my luck tends to go away quite quickly, so I took down Diaflash my float rod and re-tackled with my Preston Carbonactive 13ft rod, this rod has a little more grunt in the middle section and with it I could put on the power more quickly, set up my Okuma with the 8lb 15oz main line added an appropriate float and re-tied the hooklength (7lb 6oz) to a size 14 Super Specialist, but this time I used an Olivette (sliding, no shot on the line, the Olivette stopped by the knot for the hooklength and two style leads pinched very lightly on the hooklength), with this rig I had no weak points except the loop knots for the hooklength and the hook knot.
I decided that I would hit the fish hard on the bite and put on as much pressure as I possibly could, immediately, thus not giving the fish the opportunity to turn down to the snag, it would be dicey, but I was confident that the rod would not break and that I would soon know just how much pressure “maximum” really was?
I had kept the Hemp going in, but I upped the rate just a little, I wanted to draw the fish out as much as I could, if I managed to draw them out from under the branch by a couple of feet it would stand me in good stead for when I put on as much pressure as I could once the float had dipped.
I baited the hook with a single large Elderberry and took the plunge!!
I had 7 fish on the bounce, did not loose one and not one fish got into the snag, as soon as they realised they could not go downstream they all shot out into open water where I could ease off unless they went for the snag whereupon I battered them again.
These fish were not big (all were 6-7lb except one) but at least my plan had worked and it is one I will remember for the future!
Best fish that day.
The last fish I had was 8lb 4oz and I decided to call it a day, while there was still a little light left to walk my dogs.
This is the story of a single day on the upper Lea, I had learned quite a bit and I hope this helps others to learn a little too.
Tight lines chaps.
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